Homeward Bound

By Thursday afternoon, my project for the training course was completed, and my grueling training course had come to a close. That called for a night of celebrating, which ended up somewhere in Addams Morgan at a place karaoke. I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of video of me on stage with the microphone. We’re all probably better off that way.

The next morning was a bit of crock, with a few guest speakers trying to get their two cents in prior to releasing all of the attendees. As I bade farewell to my friends on the way out, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness. This training course was the last of the core training required by my company. Any future trips to DC would be few and far in between. I have always loved Washington DC, but have grown even fonder of this beautiful, historical, and vibrant city over the last few years. I will certainly miss our regular dalliances.

The reason I was in such a hurry to leave work was in hopes to Houston earlier. I had been on the road in some fashion or another for 10 weeks straight at that point, and I was scheduled to be on road for two more weeks. Admittedly some of the damage is self-inflicted, a fact the lady friend holds over my head on regular basis. With her mentioning something about creating accounts on eHarmony and OK Cupid, it was probably best I get down there as soon as possible. My originally booked itinerary had me flying DCA-JFK-IAH, arriving at IAH just before 8PM. I had chose this routing for a few extra EQMs, which I ended up not needing. Not surprisingly, there was no same day change space available. Barring a miracle, I was stuck.

My cab ride to Reagan was a harrowing experience. As we turned on to George Washington Parkway, my cab driver spots a fellow cabbie who was also headed to Reagan, and decides race his buddy to the airport. Let just say we had more then a few near misses. Throwing a few bills at the driver, I stumble out of the cab happy to be alive. I inquired with the agent who checked my bags if there was any flight I could possibly change to. My inquiry was met with a resounding no, even before the agent tapped away at his keyboard. Fair enough, I’ll just check at the Admirals Club. Could an AAngel pull off a miracle today?

There was space available on a couple of DCA-DFW flights, but there only DFW-IAH flight I could be confirmed on would only put me there 30 minutes earlier. Not worth $75. My fate sealed, I headed to the business center to get some work done, pausing occasionally to admire the views outside.





Since I forgone breakfast in favor of more sleep, I had intended on grabbing a sandwich at the Admirals Club, but unfortunately they were out of everything as their shipment did not arrive as expected. No big deal. I just headed to Potbelly’s and grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of water there. I went to the gate area to enjoy my sandwich while watching a CRJ-700 being readied for my flight to JFK.



American Airlines 3230 (Operated by American Eagle)
Washington Reagan (DCA) – New York Kennedy (JFK)
Depart: 12:55 PM
Arrive: 2:15 PM
Aircraft: Bombardier CRJ-700
Seat: 3A (First Class)

Here on FT, pillows are a bit of a hot button issue. Don’t believe me? Google “pillows flyertalk” and see how many threads pop up. These days, it’s rare to find a pillow in domestic First Class short of transcon routes on any carrier. Imagine my surprise when I boarded my AMERICAN EAGLE flight, from DCA to JFK no less, and find a decent sized pillow neatly placed on my seat.



Apparently, this was an aberration as I haven’t seen them on any of my Eagle or American mainline flights since. Nevertheless, I put the pillow and blanket to good use that day and nearly immediately fell asleep. By the time I woke up, the FA had already completed a round of drinks. Noticing I woke up, I was immediately offered a package of ironically named “premium snack mix” and asked for my beverage of choice. Still a bit hungover, I decided to stick with water. Which was refilled several times before landing. Despite the overcast skies, views on approach were quite nice.









While the number of interesting aircraft to spot at DFW and IAH has increased over the past few years, numbers at both airports can’t approach that of a true international airport like New York’s John Fitzgerald Kennedy International Airport.


So…doing another system upgrade anytime soon?






Welcome to oneworld



After deplaning, I headed straight to the Concourse C Admirals Club. The club was very crowded from the bank of afternoon departures and delayed flights due to weather somewhere. Despite the crowd, I was able to find an empty seat without much issue. I was hoping to put some work into this report, but alas work calls. With my focus on my training the last few weeks, I neglected a lot of my regular duties. I caught up with a lot of that work backlog, before taking a walk around the terminal prior to boarding.




Ready for the A321

While I noticed the Courtyard NFL Passing Challenge at O’Hare last weekend, I didn’t have time to stop and give it a whirl. I couldn’t quite complete the passing challenge, though it was fun trying. Some might question the wisdom of featuring Tom Brady in New York…